Chris Christie made clear he falls in the Jon Huntsman camp as opposed to the Rick Perry camp on the scientific-political issue of the week in the Republican primary:

In vetoing a bill (S2946) that would have required New Jersey to stay in a regional program intended to curb greenhouse gases  a program Christie plans to leave by the end of the year  the governor said "climate change is real." He added that "human activity plays a role in these changes" and that climate change is "impacting our state."

**SNIP**

Christie's come full circle on the issue. Last year, he told a town hall audience in Toms River he was skeptical climate change is the result of human activity. He backed off those comments at a conference of environmentalists in May and agreed to meet with climate scientists for a lesson in global warming.

Wow... Sometimes when you see what comes out of a candidate’s (or potential candidate’s) vetting, you may not agree with totally everything they’ve done, or you may not think she or he took the best route on a particular issue, but this is just over the top. If it is true that Chris Christie is a global warming loon, then he should not be on any part (ANY part) of a Republican presidential ticket what-so-ever.

I know he was everyone’s superstar, but something about him gives me the creeps. Seriously! Not looks, or weight, and totally unscientific opinion here... but my gut feeling has always been irked with him.

12
posted on 08/20/2011 7:04:08 AM PDT
by autumnraine
(America how long will you be so deaf and dumb to the chariot wheels carrying you to the guillotine?)

In vetoing a bill (S2946) that would have required New Jersey to stay in a regional program intended to curb greenhouse gases  a program Christie plans to leave by the end of the year  the governor said "climate change is real." He added that "human activity plays a role in these changes" and that climate change is "impacting our state."

Climate change is real. It has been going on since the beginning of time. But the assertion that human activity is playing a role in climate change is nonsense.

People who do not understand science need to at least know who to believe. Christie has been all over the place in his quest of who to believe.

Scientists who do not have a vested interest in man caused global warming are the ones from whom to seek advice, not the AGW crowd, a very large group. AGW is an acronym for Anthropogenic Global Warming, or man caused global warming.

Whatever “climate change” may ge attributed to human activity, is probably cancelled out by OTHER human activity that causes the reversal of the effects of the primary activity.

So human activity may very well be entirely neutral on whatever range of “climate change” takes place. Expenditure of huge sums of money we DON’T have is not justified.

Adjust to the climate in which you live. Do not attempt to adjust the climate, as that is clearly a task of such enormous proportions, and of so many unknown factors, that such an objective will remain far beyond human capabilities for centuries if not eons.

This does not mean we cannot or should not change the immediate local environment, but that trying to change the entire planet (which has already evolved some pretty spectacular control mechanisms) is futile and useless at best, and only results in a permanent state of decivilization at worst.

And despite its faults, civilization certainly is better than the alternative.

‘Zactly. The entire history of the Human Race has taken place between Glacial Periods. When the next Glacial Period starts, and it will, because it has done so for millions of years, we should make all the Global Warming apologists live outside.

Christie's come full circle on the issue Wouldn't that mean that he changed his mind, then changed it back to where he originally stood on the issue?

I think the writer meant that he he reversed his original stance, but his statements aren't really a 180. Statements of "climate change is real." and "human activity plays a role in these changes" are not the same as saying that climate change is the result of human activity.

Climate change is real. It has been changing for 4.6 billion years. Can we spend enough to change the natural changes that are occuring? NO! Sit down and shut up Christie—take a freshman Geology course and you will understand it better.

22
posted on 08/20/2011 7:12:40 AM PDT
by richardtavor
(Pray for the peace of Jerusalem)

I agree, "climate change" DOES exist. For instance, it explains how Greenland got its name, and why there are the frozen remains of vineyards there. It explains how the glaciers carved great canyons during the time where they expanded and receded. It might explain why there are no baby Wooly Mammoths in the zoo. It explains why the polar ice caps on Mars are melting. "Climate Change" IS real.

But the question is, is it caused by human activity? Well, I doubt it. The scientific evidence does NOT seem to support it, but the fact that some of the scientists have monkeyed with the data proves that THEY don't believe it. The fact that it's supported by people who stand to make BILLIONS of dollars from the legislation they've introduced makes me doubt it. And finally, the fact that it's become something of a "religion" to many of the supporters who defend it almost violently, and declare those who don't agree as "heretics" and need to be silenced, makes me even more skeptical.

The question is, can we do anything about climate change? I doubt it, but it seems to me that the prudent thing to do would be to spend time and effort on living with it, as opposed to tiling at windmills, trying to stop it.

Mark

31
posted on 08/20/2011 7:19:28 AM PDT
by MarkL
(Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)

Global warming is caused by CO2 which makes up 0.038% or zero point zero of the earths atmosphere. And as you know, something that has a value of zero can change and overtake everything else. For example if I present myself at Google headquarters with zero point zero money, I can buy the company, dismantle it and put it out of business. That is the proof.

32
posted on 08/20/2011 7:21:49 AM PDT
by GrandJediMasterYoda
(Mark Halperin - Learned the hard way what happens when you speak the truth on PMSNBC.)

While I appreciate Chris Christie's efforts to make New Jersey more business friendly to attract more jobs to that state, I'm sad to see what I'm discovering about Chris Christie and his progressive leaning stand on "sustainable cities".

Governor Chris Christie visits with management and employees from Petra Solar, a clean energy technology company in South Plainfield, N.J. on Wednesday, April 21, 2010. The Governor talks about Energy As Industry and plans outlined to promote New Jerseys renewable energy industry as a key element of the administrations economic development efforts. More info can be found at http://bit.ly/9EYWIw

I can't prove it, but I strongly suspect that Christie knows nothing about the nature of climate change, the debate about human influence on it, nor the history of this controversy. Liberals have succeeded in making this a litmus test of scientific literacy -- if you buy AGW, then you're an enlightened, scientifically knowledgeable person. If you don't, you're a knuckle-dragging troglodyte.

This is one of my critical-to-watch, key issues that I think exposes the true nature of a politician. The "belief" in man-made "climate change" (which has been going on for billions of years) and the notion that tax payer dollars should be stolen and "invested" in a futile effort to fight against the forces of nature is one of the best ways to expose a corrupt, big-government, collectivist politician. Despite their rhetoric and dooms-day scenarios, it's all about one thing - using this discredited nonsense as a way of taking away our freedoms and strengthening the centralized-government master. A new world order power grab is all this is now - nothing more.

Christie has finally exposed himself as yet another big-government, nanny state RINO. And I thought he might not be as bad as some of the others. Wrong. Just another corrupt elite that wants to rule over us as subjects.

He added that "human activity plays a role in these changes" and that climate change is "impacting our state."

WTF is he talking about? I live next door in New York city, name ONE thing "climate change" has impacted?? Don't tell me "flooding" everytime it rains. New Jersey has always had flooding problems for as long as I can remember, and I'm 50. I can't believe this guy saddling up to the wackos.

37
posted on 08/20/2011 7:39:05 AM PDT
by GrandJediMasterYoda
(Mark Halperin - Learned the hard way what happens when you speak the truth on PMSNBC.)

I would not have a problem with the statement if it went something like this. “Yes Climate Change is real, its been happening since the creation of the World, and their aint nothing we can do to stop it.”

Humans can change climate on at least a local scale, not by adding carbon dioxide, but by mismanagement of vegetation. Remove the plant cover via poorly managed grazing, catastrophic forest fire, added pavement, and tilling, and surface temperatures will rise while relative humidity falls.

Consider the thermal map of the grass below:

As a real life example, there is solid scientific evidence to suggest that the Sahara Desert was induced by exactly such causes, as a trophic cascade of events that began in the Near East 6,000 years ago subsequent to 9,000 years of continuous nomadic hunting and grazing. At that time, there was a river across the Saudi Peninsula five miles wide. There was a lake above Oman nearly 100 miles across. There are hippopotamus teeth still on the ground. In fact, I think the Hebrew in the old Cain and Abel story chronicles these very events (I've been working on a new translation for about a year).

Desertification happens fast, and when it does, the results can be huge.

The thermal plume of heat adsorbed by that rocky surface extends from Saudi Arabia, all the way to the Caribbean.

Contrast the effect of the central xeric Asian/African surface to the effect South American vegetation exerts. This is independent of the heat concentrations in the centers of the oceanic gyres (circular currents with no sinking mechanism but evaporation).

My hypothesis is that this is REAL anthropogenic climate change, and the policies of the United States government are abetting its equivalent in the American Southwest.

43
posted on 08/20/2011 7:52:51 AM PDT
by Carry_Okie
(GunWalker: Arming "a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as well funded")

"Now I don't have to take him seriously, or even think about him again."

You echo my sentiments exactly.

Christie is in love with the sound of his own voice. He likes to hear himself talk to the media. Many of us figured he'd stick his foot in his mouth sooner or later when his latent liberalism would pop out despite his best efforts.

He didn't disappoint.

Leni

45
posted on 08/20/2011 7:55:14 AM PDT
by MinuteGal
(Too Bad Those of Us who Work for a Living Have to Support Those who Vote for a Living)

The killer about the whole AGW theory is that it's basically a battering ram to destroy capitalism and the entire American economy, replacing them with international central planning and communism on a scale that could only have been dreamt of by Marx, Engels, and Lenin in their most ecstatic communist wet dreams. Thus, belief in it MUST DISQUALIFY any individual who's attempting to get a pubbie nomination because he shows himself as being no better than the Illegal on the most important issue of our time: freedom v. communism.

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